UK motorway services are the worst in Europe

Standards at Britain's motorway service stations have sunk to rock bottom, according to an international comparison published today.

Three-quarters of the British sites surveyed were rated poor or very poor for food quality, hygiene, cleanliness and price - the worst in 10 European countries tested.

When a similar ranking was published three years ago, Britain was rated seventh of the nine states reviewed, ahead of Belgium and Holland.

The latest exercise, conducted by Swiss catering inspectors for the AA and Continental motoring organisations, found that RoadChef's Sandbach Services on the M6 in Cheshire had more negative points than any of the 61 other stations visited.

It was placed in the lowest category for outdoor facilities, catering, communication, hygiene and value for money. Rated "very poor" overall, it was considered to have deteriorated since 2001.

Of 13 stations across Europe judged as "poor", five were in the UK: another RoadChef at Clacket Lane, on the M25 in Kent, Moto's Frankley Services (M5) near Birmingham and Woolley Edge (M1) in West Yorkshire, Welcome Break's Abington (M74) in southern Scotland, and Westmorland's Tebay (M6) in Cumbria.

Welcome Break's M40 station near Oxford and Moto's M4 outlet near Cardiff were the only British sites to earn an "acceptable" label.

Price levels were viewed as "very poor" at all eight UK stations, with the cost of a typical meal for a family of four twice what it was in Italy or Germany.

Cleanliness standards were inadequate at four stations, though Europe's least hygienic was judged to be the Village Catalan service area in south-west France.

The only strong point of the British sample was said to be the "availability of goods" in station shops.

Bert Morris, the deputy director of the AA Motoring Trust, said the results were "very disappointing" for consumers.